War Iran-United States Military Crisis of 2020 - US Baghdad embassy under siege, rocket fire in US Baghdad green zone, Ukrainian Airlines flight 752 crash, and more!

January 10th:
Exclusive: Informants in Iraq, Syria helped U.S. kill Iran's Soleimani - sources (archive)(post)
Iraqi Shia cleric whose militia killed American troops says crisis is over following Iran strike and Trump speech (archive)(post)
Iraqi PM tells US to decide mechanism for troop withdrawal (archive)(post)
Mike Pence says Congress might 'compromise sources and methods' if fully briefed on the Soleimani strike (archive)(post)
Unidentified planes hit Iraqi militiamen in Syria, killing 8 (archive)(post)
Iraq: The Master Of Mayhem Meets A Missile (archive)(post)
Eliminating Qasem Soleimani was Donald Trump’s Middle East farewell letter (archive)(post)
Iran uses BULLDOZERS to clear debris from plane crash site while accusing US of ‘big lie’ that they shot it down (archive)(post)
Swiss Back Channel Helped Defuse U.S.-Iran Crisis (post)

January 11th:
UKRAINIAN AIRCRAFT WAS BROUGHT DOWN IN IRAN DUE TO 'HUMAN ERROR' (archive)(post)
Iran minister says 'human error' caused by 'US adventurism' led to deadly crash of Ukrainian jetliner (archive)(post)
Ukrainian aircraft was brought down in Iran due to 'human error' (archive)(post)
Trump, at Ohio rally, says Democrats would have leaked Soleimani attack plans (archive)(post)
The Atlantic's David Frum blames Trump for downing of plane in Iran, deaths of 176 (archive)(post)
Associated Press changes ‘shockingly bad’ headline about Soleimani, Ukrainian plane crash after backlash (archive)(post)
GOP Rep. Doug Collins apologizes for saying Democrats are 'in love with terrorists' (archive)(post)
Iran demands West 'show findings' as new video reveals aircraft was struck before fiery crash (archive)(post)
Warren town hall interrupted by angry protester accusing her of ‘siding with terrorists’ (archive)(post)
Trump administration announces new sanctions on Iran (archive)(post)
Prepare For the Worst From Iran Cyber Attacks, As DHS Issues Warning: Experts (archive)(post)
Trump tells Fox News' Laura Ingraham 'four embassies' were targeted in imminent threat from Iran (archive)(post)
Trump tweets support for Iranian protesters as they demand Khamenei quit (archive)(post)
Trump warns Iran against ‘another massacre’ as protests flare over downed jet (archive)(post)

January 12th:
Trump tweet in Farsi 'the most liked Persian tweet' in history of Twitter (archive)(post)
Iraq warned to keep US troops or risk financial blow-WSJ (archive)(post)
Iran arrests UK ambassador in what Britain calls ‘flagrant violation of international law’ (archive)(post)

January 13th:
Trump authorized Soleimani's killing 7 months ago, with conditions (archive)(post)

edit: This is a WIP. All links are posted in the order they appear in the thread, not in chronological order of their publication.


---Original OP before the merge---
Iraqi supporters of Iran-backed militia attack US Embassy
https://apnews.com/75228a8a607a44863b57021ac33264dc (http://archive.vn/ljm9Y)

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA12 minutes ago

BAGHDAD (AP) — Dozens of angry Iraqi Shiite militia supporters broke into the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad on Tuesday after smashing a main door and setting fire to a reception area, prompting tear gas and sounds of gunfire.

An Associated Press reporter at the scene saw flames rising from inside the compound and at least three U.S. soldiers on the roof of the main building inside embassy. It was not clear what caused the fire at the reception area near the parking lot of the compound. A man on a loudspeaker urged the mob not to enter the compound, saying: “The message was delivered.”

The embassy attack followed deadly U.S. airstrikes on Sunday that killed 25 fighters of the Iran-backed militia in Iraq, the Kataeb Hezbollah. The U.S. military said it was in retaliation for last week’s killing of an American contractor in a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base that it had blamed on the militia.

Dozens of protesters marched inside the compound after smashing the gate used by cars to enter the embassy. The protesters, many in militia uniform, stopped in a corridor after about 5 meters (16 feet), and were only about 200 meters away from the main building. Half a dozen U.S. soldiers were seen on the roof of the main building, their guns were pointed at the protesters.

Smoke from the tear gas rose in the area, and at least three of the protesters appeared to have difficulties breathing. It wasn’t immediately known whether the embassy staff had remained inside the main building.

The protesters hanged a poster on the wall: “America is an aggressor.”

Shouting “Down, Down USA,” the crowd tried to push inside the embassy grounds, hurling water and stones over its walls. They raised yellow militia flags and taunted the embassy’s security staff who remained behind the glass windows in the gates’ reception area. They sprayed graffiti on the wall and windows in red in support of the Kataeb Hezbollah militia: “Closed in the name of the resistance.”

Hundreds of angry protesters, some in militia uniforms, set up tents outside the embassy. As tempers rose, the mob set fire to three trailers used by security guards along the embassy wall.

No one was immediately reported hurt in the rampage and security staff had withdrawn to inside the embassy earlier, soon after protesters gathered outside.

The U.S. attack — the largest targeting an Iraqi state-sanctioned militia in recent years — and the subsequent calls by the militia for retaliation, represent a new escalation in the proxy war between the U.S. and Iran playing out in the Middle East.

Tuesday’s attempted embassy storming took place after mourners and supporters held funerals for the militia fighters killed in a Baghdad neighborhood, after which they marched on to the heavily fortified Green Zone and kept walking till they reached the sprawling U.S. Embassy there.

AP journalists then saw the crowd as they tried to scale the walls of the embassy, in what appeared to be an attempt to storm it, shouting “Down, down USA!” and “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.”

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday’s strikes send the message that the U.S. will not tolerate actions by Iran that jeopardize American lives.

The Iranian-backed Iraqi militia had vowed Monday to retaliate for the U.S. military strikes. The attack and vows for revenge raised concerns of new attacks that could threaten American interests in the region.

The U.S. attack also outraged both the militias and the Iraqi government, which said it will reconsider its relationship with the U.S.-led coalition — the first time it has said it will do so since an agreement was struck to keep some U.S. troops in the country. It called the attack a “flagrant violation” of its sovereignty.

In a partly televised meeting Monday, Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi told Cabinet members that he had tried to stop the U.S. operation “but there was insistence” from American officials.

The U.S. military said “precision defensive strikes” were conducted against five sites of Kataeb Hezbollah, or Hezbollah Brigades in Iraq and Syria. The group, which is a separate force from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, operates under the umbrella of the state-sanctioned militias known collectively as the Popular Mobilization Forces. Many of them are supported by Iran.

.

 

[zap2theextreme]

You seem to be ignorant of what WMDs actually are.

Weapons of Mass Destruction

The United States faces a rising danger from terrorists and rogue states seeking to use weapons of mass destruction. A weapon of mass destruction is a nuclear, radiological, chemical, biological, or other device that is intended to harm a large number of people. The Department of Homeland...

www.dhs.gov

Iraq was using chemical weapons in their war against Iran in the 1980s. They were told to destroy them all, and claimed they had (which was a lie.) Both Clinton and Bush acknowledged they lied. The media, however, decided to 1984 the shit and claim WMDs = nukes only, which was never the case. Sort of how they're now conflating legal and illegal immigration.

1. Guess who was supporting and helping Saddam while he carried out chemical attacks during the Iran-Iraq war
2. The key arguement for invasion was specifically that the WMDs were nuclear weapons. They sent in the IAEA and when nothing was found he claimed they were smuggled into Syria or whatever lol

Stop projecting your own asspain onto the Iraqis, who actually celebrated when news came out of Qasim Solemani's death.

You mean that video that was literally posted by the former CIA director of like 20-30 Iraqis with flags walking down a street? lmao even more gullible than I thought

Again, this is a one-and-done response to a direct attack on a US embassy, not whatever "imperial ambitions"/corporate interests/American Exceptionalism you're screeching yourself raw about.

This response IS pure "imperial ambitions/corporate interests/American Exceptionalism" it's a direct extension and continuation of America's foreign policy i.e. maintaining it's brutal grip on the middle-east whatever means necessary.

Not whataboutism. Just pointing out your clear double standards in decrying "imperialism".

you told me to stop "blubbering" about American imperialism because Iran has done it too. That is literally whataboutism holy shit dude

 

[XYZpdq]

So I've read that Dead General Type Guy was either totally hated in Iran for being the asshole that dicks around in other countries and runs their terrorism franchises or that he's totally loved for the same reasons.

 

[OnMoTi]

 

[mindlessobserver]

What gets me is the dude legit thought he was untouchable. He was flying on a diplomatic aircraft and was even getting met by the Iraqi governments protocol officer (who also was killed). He really underestimated the amount of animosity America had with him combined with personality of the Orange Man in the White House. Makes a sort of sense though. Both Bush and Obama largely ignored Iran's bad behavior for various reasons. They've been getting away with literal murder for the last two decades. They can screech all they want about how this attack was unjustified. It absolutely was.

Spoiler: gore

 

[Unog]

The embassy shouldn't even exist. I don't even know if I should bother as you seem to be entirely delusional about the reality of the situation. America did start it. The entire premise that Saddam Hussein had WMDs, was working with Al Qaeda, and helped orchestrate 9/11 was a full on lie. The entire situation in the middle-east is predicated on this and the idea that Iran had to secretly concoct some kind of false flag attack on the embassy,

You might want to do some research on what exactly has been going on in the ME further back than the 90's.

I would not bother to be honest; The conservatives on here have gone full conservitard over the idea of dominating another country. If this escalates then many of the people on here will turn into unironic neocons.

Being completely - to the point of absurdity - isolationist/non-interventionist isn't a good idea.

That said I don't think this is going to turn into some horrific decades-long incursion against an entrenched insurgency over a missile strike (nor would I want it to). Trump hasn't done that the other times he's had the opportunity to do so, and I don't think he'll do so here.

This is a bunch of screaming about how the sky is falling when it isn't even raining.

 

[crocodilian]

You know, it's kind of funny.

You know how Trump keeps "breaking rules" and "not fighting fair" and all that shit that the Dem's and the TDS REEEEEsistance keeps screeching?

This is a prime example.

Trump wasn't supposed to ice two fucking high ranking targets in a negligent and almost comical way. I mean, so dismissively just backhanded "sit down, bitch" slap.

He's supposed to strike a couple cities, or increase sanctions, or wipe out the rank and file foot soldiers around the embassy.

See, officers like that, they don't normally get killed. For a General to get killed? That shit's normally history book. It's usually after tons of manuevering, years of warfare, thousands of hours of combat, going down in glorious battle against 10X his few remaining troops numbers.

Not just BTFO by a drone strike while Trump sits around in his boxers, scratches his balls and eats another Big Mac with his feet up on the desk.

That's not how this is supposed to work.

That's not how any of this is supposed to work.

No photo ops, no knife fights with SEAL Team Six, no heroic escapes down tunnels, no last second escaping through the passes.

You get droned, or get your face ripped off by a dog.

Trump didn't deploy 82nd and 100 Marines for this guy. He did for the embassy. For the American citizens. To prevent another Iranian Hostage Crisis.

He just had some dude drone strike this faggot and went on with his day.

And that's just not how it's done.

Ancient post, but it hits the nail on the head. This single strike comes off like a dick-swinging, arrogant, dismissive show of undeniable force. To anyone paying attention it says "I don't even need boots on the ground to wipe out any Iranians who insult my power. No matter who they are or where they are, I will be able to reach them." This is the sort of influence every politician in the Middle East would kill to have, and is likely the only thing they can truly respect.

Clearly the Iranian government doesn't understand the sort of person Donald Trump is, but with any luck this will teach them. Once they're done blustering hopefully they understand there's no point in planning attacks on U.S. citizens nor their property until there's a Democrat in office. Or maybe they won't and I get to watch more sand niggers explode.

 

[zap2theextreme]

You might want to do some research on what exactly has been going on in the ME further back than the 90's.

I assume you're referring to the bad blood between Iraq and Iran, which yeah well no shit. What is more pressing though? That or the current foriegn invader that is currently fucking you right now, and plans to continue to fuck you for the immediate future? Even if it was a false flag attack perpetrated by Iran then fuck it, GOOD. America doesn't belong there in the first place and sure as hell doesn't belong there for 20 years.

 

[RodgerDodger]

And they care a lot. I'm finding all sorts of videos of people way up the chain literally crying over this.

I’m betting you aren’t seeing a lot of weeping from the people down the chain in the streets. Soleimani is the one that brought in foreign terrorists to massacre Iranian protestors in the streets a few months back.

 

[Unog]

I assume you're referring to the bad blood between Iraq and Iran, which yeah well no shit.

I was referring to the history of the region in general.

What is more pressing though? That or the current foriegn invader this currently fucking you right now and plans to continue to fuck you for the immediate future? Even if it was a false flag attack perpetraded by Iran than fuck it, GOOD. America doesn't belong there in the first place and sure as hell doesn't belong there for 20 years.

You're acting like Trump ordered a full-on roll-out of troops. He ordered a targeted strike on a key officer in their military operations.

He's not shooting missles full of troops like drop-pods from WH40k.

 

[ScatmansWorld]

Spoiler: gore

View attachment 1081103

It literally looks like one of those charred corpse models from Half-Life 2.

 

[Gar For Archer]

So there was just an Iranian general chilling in Iraqi territory with a group that just took credit for attacking an embassy?
What the fuck did he think was going to happen?

Not just chilling with them, but apparently they fucking tagged his name in the embassy with something along the lines of “WE’RE WITH SOLEIMANI!!!”

Devoid of context that seems like a clear false flag meant to bait the US into killing this dude, but it seems that he was honest to god that fucking brazen about it.

 

[zap2theextreme]

I was referring to the history of the region in general.



You're acting like Trump ordered a full-on roll-out of troops. He ordered a targeted strike on a key officer in their military operations.

He's not shooting missles full of troops like drop-pods from WH40k.

What you're saying makes no sense. You say it's not a big deal, but Killing a key military officer of a foreign nation is an act of war.
Imagine if a hostile nation ordered a strike on, I dunno, General Mattis or General Patreus or whoever and assassinated them. Would that not be an act of war on America?

edit: and by there I meant there in Iraq not Iran

 

[Spergichu]

So how are my fellow burgers planning on getting out of a potential draft?

 

[Iwasamwillbe]

1. Guess who was supporting and helping Saddam while he carried out chemical attacks during the Iran-Iraq war

The US also supported Iran, playing both sides. But that's ultimately neither here nor there.

. The key arguement for invasion was specifically that the WMDs were nuclear weapons. They sent in the IAEA and when nothing was found he claimed they were smuggled into Syria or whatever lol

Looking into it, they actually weren't that specific about what the WMDs actually were.

You mean that video that was literally posted by the former CIA director of like 20-30 Iraqis with flags walking down a street? lmao even more gullible than I thought

No evidence has yet come out suggesting that the video is staged/fake though.

This response IS pure "imperial ambitions/corporate interests/American Exceptionalism" it's a direct extension and continuation of America's foreign policy i.e. maintaining it's brutal grip on the middle-east whatever means necessary.

So retaliating against aggression on a US embassy = "imperial ambitions/corporate interests/American Exceptionalism".

You are literally arguing that we shouldn't respond to attacks on US embassies in Iraq because "Iraq War REEEEE ".

you told me to stop "blubbering" about American imperialism because Iran has done it too. That is literally whataboutism holy shit dude

No it isn't. I merely asked about whether you are seriously crying about American imperialism in the face of your absolute willful ignorance and blatant double standards towards Iran's longstanding imperialist ambitions.

 

[OnMoTi]

Killing a key military officer of a foreign nation is an act of war.

What about storming a foreign nation's embassy, setting parts on fire and calling for the widespread murder of everybody inside?

 

[Unog]

What you're saying makes no sense. You say it's not a big deal, but Killing a key military officer of a foreign nation is an act of war.
Imagine if a hostile nation ordered a strike on, I dunno, General Mattis or General Patreus or whoever and assassinated them. Would that not be an act of war on America?

You really want to know what the difference is?

One is the sole state that can be described as a "military superpower" on earth. The other is Iran.

You're comparing apples and clams.

 

[Speakeasy Electric]

So how are my fellow burgers planning on getting out of a potential draft?

During the Vietnam draft, people would stay awake for days ahead of their medical screening, do a lot of illegal drugs, or otherwise make themselves appear generally unhealthy to avoid being draft. So, probably that.

 

[zap2theextreme]

You really want to know what the difference is?

One is the sole state that can be described as a "military superpower" on earth. The other is Iran.

You're comparing apples and clams.

There's that American exceptionalism I was talking about.

 

[Unog]

There's that American exceptionalism I was talking about.

Sure, bud. It's also the reality of the situation.

You might want to brush up on the concept of realpolitik and how it applies to this situation.

 

[Iwasamwillbe]

What about storming a foreign nation's embassy, setting parts on fire and calling for the widespread murder of everybody inside?

Well that's just the oppressed Iraqis venting their pent-up frustration at their imperial-corporate-exceptionalist American overlords.